A new embittered generation
Saturday, April 3, 2010 at 11:45AM What was, at first glance, a not-so-eloquent letter filled with anger and frustration written by a disenfranchised teen caught my attention with these tidbits:
In school, sometimes we have CME or PG lessons and the teacher gives the class a worksheet which sings praises about what PAP has done for the people. One I recall from memory, was roughly,
“Every time I see old folks gathering recyclables from a garbage can on the street, my heart laments for them. The people these days are lacking filial piety…” …. “…I am glad that the government is helping the needy with assistance schemes. The government is doing a good job.”
Obviously there is something very wrong there. I thought to myself, ‘if the government is doing a good job, then why are these old folks gathering and selling recyclables?’ I asked the teacher so, but he just shrugged and replied that he doesn’t know why.
By the by, there’s more mind control worksheets I’ve done.
“Do you feel proud to be a Singaporean? If so, why?”
No. The government is ignorant and greedy, that’s why.
What Kristine wrote worries me, but allow me to offer some observations.
First, that there are subtle, and not-so-subtle, ways to influence how our youth think that are employed in our schools. I'm wary of using the word "indoctrination", but it is hard to not draw the parallels when the term used is "National Education" and lacks historical objectivity, like stressing the good things that the PAP government has done while ignoring the bad.
Second, this constant stream of propaganda is incongruent with reality as perceived by local students. I cannot tell if this is true for the majority, but I think this illustrates that it can backfire, as Kristine exemplifies, and when the Singapore Story, as packaged and sold by the media, schools, and the PAP, does not match up to the perceptions, expectations and scrutiny of an educated generation, and can lead to a blowback of major proportions.
Lastly, and this is one of the things that worries me, is that the propaganda is working, as evidenced by that last paragraph I quoted. Kristine, like many other of my fellow Singaporeans, now believes, for better or worse, the government is the country, and that the PAP is the government.
I have written many times that we should not equate country with government nor government with party, but the PAP has successfully disseminated that as truth, even using schools to achieve that end. This has several outcomes, one of which is the stratification of Singaporeans into three groups: the anti-PAP dissenters; the pro-PAP who buy into the Singapore Story hook, line and sinker; and the apathetic "I'm just minding my own business and not taking any personal risk" locals.
This inevitably causes any elections to skew in favour of the incumbent, ruling party. When this mentality of equating country with government and party persists, even if, or after, the PAP is voted out, there will be this distrust of government that will linger, and make the job of governing a difficult one at best, and an impossible one at worst.
I'm not advocating that we trust our government; any government must be viewed with skepticism, and must be held accountable at all times, but the PAP has successfuly poisoned the well enough for this to persist through several generations. We have to separate the entities of country, government and political parties, and keep them separate, if we are to find progress for Singaporeans.
It saddens me that a 14-year-old wrote a letter like that. The PAP government has done more damage to the national psyche, and our developing minds, than they could ever bargain for, just for political gain. I find that most despicable.
Reader Comments (3)
I feel that there should be greater transparency for the systems in place. There is too much "upgrading" and unnecessary construction, and nowhere to question or object decisions, we have just to "believe" that everything is done for the good of the people. Even though all it does is increase rents and drive up food prices.
i'm still unsure about reading too much in to what I feel is a rant, but I felt you raised very good points.
This is the perfect chance for opposition parties to raise this issue with the PAP and it would be interesting to see PAP's reply.
@Shawn: This is the second letter that I can see this trend, along with a lot of conversations with friends and colleagues. It may be a rant, but we ignore the gist of the message at our own peril.
As for raising issues with the PAP, I think you're missing the gist of how politicians communicate with one another. This would be too long for the comments section but will fit right into a post. I'll probably get around to that tomorrow.